Tag: sharing

Things

 In the Western world, we become accustomed to accumulating things in our lives. Possessions, or “stuff,” as the comedian George Carlin called it. We fill our drawers and our living spaces with things: clothes, shoes, gadgets, memorabilia. And then we go to the store or online to buy more. Many people end up with so much stuff, they rent storage units for what won’t fit in their homes. We saw these storage companies all over Florida when we lived there. Accumulations of a lifetime, perhaps, that people couldn’t part with when they retired.

This is a privilege not available to so many people, who may not be able to afford a house, let alone all the things to put in it. Yet advertising everywhere pushes that mindset: aspiring to owning and accumulating. Those who can’t achieve it are left feeling at a loss: outsiders in a culture that rewards those who have money and possessions. All we need at the most basic level is food and shelter, and the homeless live with that challenge daily while those who have both pass them by in the street.

Still, beneath the fullness of owning things, there is an emptiness. When you come to the end of your life, and you only have physical objects and a bank account to look back on, something feels not quite right. What about human relationships? What about love and the kindness of sharing with others (like those who struggle to survive)?

As I get older, I am finding my interest in buying things, which was always relatively minimal, has faded even more. I have little desire to buy anything and often think of it as potential clutter that will just have to be dusted or cleaned! The clothes I have are fine. I don’t need to own the latest devices or tech innovations. I get books and films from the library. Spending time walking outdoors in Nature is more important to me than what’s in my apartment. My friends and family mean more to me than my Mac or cell phone.

Over a lifetime, many individuals come to see that things have little meaning without the people they are close to—and the feeling of connection and love that is part of that. Sharing what you have in your heart as well as what you have in your wallet is an open door to a deeper experience of life. We came here not for the “things” but for the people. We came here to love—and to let go of everything else.

From the Heart

© 2011 Anne S. Katzeff / Artist
People in the United States (and Canada) have set aside Thanksgiving as a day for being grateful and counting our blessings—literally,“giving thanks.” Taken to the next level, however, gratitude for life’s blessings also means sharing them with others. At the heart of gratitude is giving. The potlatch or giveaway ceremonies of various Native American nations, predating the arrival of Europeans, exemplify this value. Historically, these indigenous families gave away or shared their own “wealth” or possessions with others in the community as part of the potlatch. Both the Canadian and U.S. governments banned the practice for many years, but it never completely disappeared and has experienced a resurgence since the bans were dropped.

Many other groups in the Americas have included generosity and gratitude within their living traditions. The Andean peoples of Peru practice a form of mutual aid called ayni, which is based on both cooperation and generosity—in essence, helping others who will in turn help them when they are in need. The Maya in Guatemala believe in living in balance with giving and receiving. They make offerings to life, toq, in the form of prayers of gratitude or acts of service, for all that life gives them—air to breathe, water to drink, food to eat.

In the United States, being grateful has not always moved people to share what they have with others. In fact, American beliefs in rugged individualism and competitive economic growth have led to just the opposite. Still, generous impulses have not entirely vanished, and I truly believe that they are making a comeback. We are living through a time of radical shifts in values, from “me first” to sister/brotherhood, from cutthroat competition to generosity of spirit. The old ways that separate and pit people against one another are slowly disintegrating. Once we become fully aware of the web of light that connects all our hearts, there will be no need to speak of giving as a desired value or behavior. Within oneness, there is no separation, and sharing is a part of living, just as automatic as breathing.

We are evolving to a future in which we won’t have to be reminded at special holidays to be grateful or to give generously. We will wake up each morning with thank you on our lips and fall asleep each night counting our blessings. We will live in gratitude, oneness, and sharing. We will live from the heart. That future is Now.